April 2005

IZA DP No. 1578: Measurement of Globalization and Its Variations Among Countries, Regions and Over Time

published in: Arno Tausch and Almas Heshmati (eds.), Roadmap to Bangalore? Globalization, the EU's Lisbon Process, the Structures of Global Inequality, Nova Science Publishers, USA, 2007

The process of globalization is an international economic order which has led to the progressive integration of the world economy through the pulling the barrier of trade and greater mobility of factors of production. In addition the technological innovation also provides impetus to the progressive integration of the nations. The elements of globalization include free movement of goods and services, flow of capital, movement of labor and the transfer of technology. Many transition and developing countries through liberalization and increased openness to trade have benefited from the process. Apart from the economic benefits, globalization also indicates the flow of ideas, norms, information and peoples. There is a large heterogeneity in the degree of globalization over time and across countries and regions of the World, as well as within countries. The present study is an attempt to measure globalization by using both parametric and non-parametric approaches. The data cover a wide range of industrialized, transition and developing countries on the basis of their international integration. We identify the factors influencing globalization among the countries in the form of economic integration, personal contact, technology and political engagement. We isolate the contribution of the factors by quantifying the individual factor contribution to the overall integration. Finally, we investigate the links between globalization and labor market in India manufacturing industry.